R'nish Aggregate
'Overview' The R'nish Aggregate is an originally-nomadic fleet currently occupying two sectors close to the Holy Empire of Haruhi Suzumiya, the Sultanate of Klavostan, the Shinra Republic, and the Argenti Federation. The R’nish are a peculiar people in that they have no true biological body since they choose and change between a variety of mechanical or biomechanical bodies which are designed for whatever the individual R'nish intends to use said bodies for like a person would choose and change between a variety of clothes. No one knows the millennia-old origins of the R’nish, and many speculate that the R’nish started not as one race but as an aggregate of several races (and even today anyone from any race can join the Aggregate and become R’nish if they wish to) which were bound together by the quest for immortality. And, indeed, R’nish have achieved the closest thing to immortality, but at a price some may be unwilling to pay--the sacrifice of one’s original body. For a non-R’nish, becoming one entails having every last bit of the mind’s information meticulously and thoroughly copied onto the Greater Mindlink, the R'nish network of mind data. The initial encoding process can take from several months, but with the long life of R’nish the copying is inconsequential since the body and mind are kept in stasis while doing so. In essence, one sleeps as his or her original race and wakes up R’nish. Once the encoding is complete, the original body is stored, studied, and often harvested for genetic material to make new bodies out of. In addition, the new R’nish now has a mind of encoded data, it can be transferred from one mindcore to another with speed and ease, which in turn enables the transfer from one unoccupied R’nish biomech body to another. These bodies can vary in an astounding number of shapes, symmetries, and sizes. They can range from small, drone-like bodies, to the massive starship bodies which house most of the Aggregate's population. These bodies, coupled with the fact that R'nish minds are often backed up so they can be restored in new bodies in case a R'nish should meet with something normally lethal, allows the R'nish remarkable longevity. However, even the R'nish have not achieved immortality. The encoded information that constitutes a R’nish mind will, eventually, become corrupted. Although, R’nish usually choose to “delete” themselves after becoming weary of an extremely long life long before the corruption of the information reaches the point of atrophy. In fact, boredom is the single most common cause of death for R'nish. The longest living R’nish only chose to live for 754 hion (approximately over 2927 years), although recently some R'nish are approaching that record. Since there are technically no male or female R’nish—in fact, “R’nish” is not so much a name for a race than a neuter pronoun—R’nish “reproduce” via mind-fusions. Basic traits and parts from parent-donors’ minds (excluding memories) are copied and combined to form an entirely new mind. Using this method, R’nish can have a multitude of parent-donors. The record is 107 parent-donors for a single R’nish. R'nish born this way are not raised like children from most other species would be. R'nish minds are created to be self-sufficient, so parent-donors don't typically bother with raising them. The young R'nish usually spends the first few hion of its existence self-educating itself. When it comes to relations with other races and civilizations, the R'nish Aggregate has mostly preferred to keep to itself. The Shipminds of the R'nish Ark Ships, essentially the governing body of the Aggregate, have been uninterested in getting involved in interstellar affairs. Their policy has always been isolationist and non expansionist, although they do allow visitors to come and go as they please provided they don't do anything to harm anyone or anything in the Aggregate. Doing so is a costly mistake, and many attempted raids into R'nish territory have been completely destroyed. Since these often did relatively little damage and no real loss of R'nish life, the R'nish response afterward was usually limited to an annoyed transmission to the source of the raiders telling them to not do it again. Despite this apparent military strength coupled with their advanced technology, however, the R'nish do not have the numbers to overcome a determined large-scale, long-term invasion. It is the realization of this fact, as well as the marked expansion of many of the civilizations in the galaxy, which have led the Shipminds to consider revising the Aggregate's isolationist stance. 'Societal Organization' TO BE ADDED 'Date and Time System' R'nish Time Units: (some numbers were rounded off) *1 l’ti = 2.1 seconds *1 k’ti = 36 l’ti = 75.6 seconds *1 d’ti = 36 k'ti = 45 minutes 25.2 seconds *1 ti = 36 d'ti = 27 hrs 15 minutes R'nish Calendar Units: (some numbers were rounded off) *1 l’hion = 6 ti = 6 days 19 hrs 30 seconds *1 k’hion = 6 l’hon = 36 ti = 40 days 21 hrs *1 d’hion = 6 k’hion = 216 ti = 245 days 6 hrs *1 hion = 6 d’hion = 1296 ti = 1417 days 12 hrs = 3 yrs 10 months 16 days 19 hrs 12 mins 'Sector Composition' 'Home Sector' The "Home Sector" is somewhat of a misnomer since the R'nish Aggregate as a whole does not really hold any special attachment to the five inhabited worlds they hold in the sector. Still, that's how outsiders refer to the sector, and it's a workable enough term. The five worlds which the R'nish have "colonized" in the Home Sector are actually habitable moons orbiting a gas giant within the local star system's habitable zone. Although, the R'nish don't really care much for the habitability of the worlds other than for recreational or research purposes since environment holds little significance to a group which can use bodies which can ignore or be tailored to local conditions. Although, the Aggregate does take care not to adversely impact the local environments since destroying life on purpose is a big taboo among the Aggregate. Besides, one of the sapient races in a world or two might develop civilization someday. The five R'nish Home Sector worlds are, in order of importance: Onlishkta, Thk'rau, Gilkh, Qajabek, and Bob (no, it wasn't named by an ex-human R'nish. It was just some nonsense sound the Shipmind who named the world found amusing). Onlishkta, the R'nish "home world" of sorts, is only considered the capital by virtue of being located by the local Hyperspace Junction and by having the Warp Gate in orbit over it. All Home Sector are only sparsely "civilized," as outsiders understand the term, since most of the R'nish infrastructure is in space with the R'nish fleet. Only resource-gathering facilities, research facilities, entertainment center "cities," and support infrastructure are actually on-world. Stats: Sector Population: 60 billion + 6 NPC boost = 150 billion Sector GDP: $14,000 + 7 NPC boost = $35,000 Total NPC Cost: 13 NPC 'Colony Sector' Aside from the Home Sector, the R'nish Aggregate have also set up part of their fleet in another sector. The worlds in this sector are all uninhabited, and the Aggregate has no plans of terraforming any of them. On-world development and structures are even more sparse in the colony sector, with most of said development and structures focused on resource gathering facilities and support facilities. In fact, since the worlds are uninhabited anyway, the R'nish think nothing of strip mining the colony sector worlds whereas they take care to preserve the environments on the home sector worlds. Stats: Sector Population: 10 billion + 4 NPC boost = 50 billion Sector GDP: $2,000 + 4 NPC boost = $14,000 Total NPC Cost: 1 + 8 NPC (Player's Note: Since I have nothing of real substance on the ground, this means I have little in the way of system defense for the Aggregate.) 'Fleet Composition' Since the R'nish Aggregate is primarily fleet-borne, a vast majority of its resources go into shipbuilding and maintenance. Although the R'nish fleet is not a naval combat force in the conventional sense, all R'nish capital ships have basic combat capabilities and shielding for their respective size classes since the R'nish fleet has to be capable of defending itself against external attacks. While the larger R'nish ships all have hangars, their capacities are generally limited and none of the ships are true carriers in the naval sense of the word. The ships are listed from the largest size class to the smallest. 'Starships' Ark Ships The Ark Ships are the core of the R'nish Aggregate since these vessels house the majority of the R'nish population. Due to this, the Shipminds of the Ark Ships are the most prominent of the Shipminds, making them the de facto leaders of the Aggregate. The upper third of the massive armored domes of the Ark Ships house an environmental habitat which can support most lifeforms on the galaxy. This habitat is mostly used for entertainment and some R'nish indulge in the pleasures of said habitats by using mostly-biological bodies. The habitat has smaller sub-habitats which are wither used to support bodies adapted to other environment types or for research purposes. Other amenities include entertainment centers, a main fabrication bay, and some limited-capacity hangars. Stats: *Size Class: Ultra-heavy *Individual Cost: $350 *Number Constructed: 20 *Total Cost: $7,000 Fabrication Ships R'nish Fabrication Ships are the second-largest and second most important ship types in the R'nish Aggregate. As their name indicates, these Fabrication Ships are mobile production facilities. They handle all production which the limited fabrication bays or facilities in the other ships cannot handle. Should they need to construct anything bigger than any one Fabrication Ship can handle, they are capable of temporarily combining into a massive construction complex. Stats: *Size Class: Superheavy *Individual Cost: $200 *Number Constructed: 10 *Total Cost: $2,000 Gatherers R'nish gatherers are tasked with the collection of the mineral resources needed by the R'nish Aggregate. Essentially, they are mobile mining facilities. Gatherers are designed to latch onto and strip asteroids bare of usable resources. However, should there be a need to conduct operations on a world, a Gatherer can split into two smaller, medium-size vessels. Stats: *Size Class: Heavy *Individual Cost: $100 *Number Constructed: 45 *Total Cost: $4,500 Cruisecraft Major Cruisecraft are, functionally, scaled down versions of R'nish Ark Ships. They contain smaller versions of an Ark Ship's amenities, such as environmental habitat sections, entertainment centers, and fabrication bays. The largest of these Cruisecraft are designated "Major" to indicate their size class. Stats: *Size Class: Heavy *Individual Cost: $100 *Number Constructed: 40 *Total Cost: $4,000 Cruisecraft Medium These Cruisecraft are even smaller than Cruisecraft Major, although they still perform the same functions and have similar, if further scaled down, amenities and capabilities. They do not have full internal environmental habitat domes, and instead have a smaller habitat bay. Stats: *Size Class: Medium *Individual Cost: $55 *Number Constructed: 60 *Total Cost: $3,300 Bulk Logistics Vessels Bulk Logistics Vessels have a basic and very simple, but quite important, function. They carry materials to and from the ships and facilities in the R'nish Aggregate. They are commonly found close to Fabrication Ships, Gatherers, and ground-based resource and production facilities. Stats: *Size Class: Medium *Individual Cost: $55 *Number Constructed: 55 *Total Cost: $3,025 Cruisecraft Minor These Cruisecraft are the smallest and most numerous Cruisecraft in the R'nish fleet. While they retain the same amenities as the larger Cruisecraft types, there are often very scaled down. Often only a section or a small room dedicated to said amenities. In fact, Cruisecraft Minor are basically just rather capable and somewhat self-sufficient cruise ships instead of a true, dedicated ark like the Ark Ships and Larger Cruisecraft. Stats: *Size Class: Light *Individual Cost: $40 *Number Constructed: 100 *Total Cost: $4,000 Sensor Ships Like their name suggests, sensor ships are little more than a cluster of powerful sensors with an engine, a Heim drive, ample defensive weaponry, and a mindcore. These ships are the eyes and ears of the R'nish fleet, and they often patrol the outer edges of R'nish fleet concentrations--usually in the places where hostile fleets are most likely to approach--to serve as early warning systems. Their sensor clusters may also be configured for electronic warfare. R'nish sensor ships have the highest "turnover" rate due to the rather boring and repetitive nature of their function. Shipminds for sensor ships resign their positions and promote other minds in their place more often than any other capital ship class in the R'nish fleet. Stats: *Size Class: Ultralight *Individual Cost: $10 *Number Constructed: 100 *Total Cost: $1,000 Node Ships Since the R'nish Aggregate depends on a high degree of inter-ship connectivity due to the nature of the Greater Mindlink, it needs to have an effective and efficient network system. While R'nish ships are capable of networking with passable efficiency, they can only do so much. That's where the Node Ships come in. Node Ships are the communications junctions of the entire R'nish fleet, and without them the communications and informational exchange between the R'nish vessels would be a lot more ponderous. During defensive actions Node Ships work closely with the Sensor Ships, collecting all of the data from the latter and organizing them into useful battledata. Stats: *Size Class: Ultralight *Individual Cost: $25 *Number Constructed: 51 *Total Cost: $1,275 Yachts R'nish Yachts are the smallest of R'nish starships. They are mostly used for personal whims and entertainment by R'nish Residentminds who wish to visit places outside the Aggregate sectors. As such, the minds occupying them do not count as authority figures in the way other Shipminds are. With the beginnings of change in the originally-isolationist R'nish policy, Yachts have seen increasing use for small missions the major Shipminds to other civilizations and territories. Stats: *Size Class: Yacht *Individual Cost: $3 *Number Constructed: 200 *Total Cost: $600 'Spaceships' Defender Drones Unlike other R'nish ships, which are amply armed for defensive necessity but are otherwise not warships in purpose, the Defender Drones are designed to be actual combat vessels. They have the size and firepower of a gunboat and fulfill the roles such vessels would normally be assigned on most navies. Drone Ships are piloted by non-sapient drone minds instead of R'nish minds. It is a testament to the non-conquering nature of the R'nish that there are only relatively few of these vessels, and they are often sparingly used. Stats: *Size Class: Gunboat *Cost Ratio: 2 per $1 *Number Constructed: 160 *Total Cost: $80 Fighter Drones As their name suggests, Fighter Drones serve as the fighter craft of the R'nish fleet. They are fast, agile, and moderately well-armed for their size. Like Drone Ships, they are piloted by non-sapient drone minds instead of R'nish minds. It is a testament to the non-conquering nature of the R'nish that there are only relatively few of these vessels, and they are often sparingly used. Stats: *Size Class: Fighter *Cost Ratio: 10 per $1 *Number Constructed: 700 *Total Cost: $70 Hyperlight Shuttles R'nish Hyperlight Shuttles are ship bodies which are used in the same way Yachts are used. However, unlike yachts they are incapable of interstellar travel--only short hyperjumps. Like all R'nish ships, they are equipped with some defensive armament. Stats: *Size Class: Hyperlight Shuttle *Cost Ratio: 15 per $1 *Number Constructed: 1,875 *Total Cost: $125 Shuttles R'nish Shuttles are basically just downsized Hyperlight Shuttles in terms of function and how most R'nish prefer to use them. The only difference being, other than the size, that R'nish shuttles are not equipped with Heim drives and limited strictly to sublight. Stats: *Size Class: Shuttle *Cost Ratio: 20 per $1 *Number Constructed: 3,500 *Total Cost: $175 'Ground Defense Composition' Since the R'nish Aggregate are not interested in conquest, they do not maintain a relatively small ground force of armed drones. Although, in a pinch, other types of utility and attendant drones may be given some rudimentary armament should the need arise. Basic Combat Drone *Soldier Type: Garrison/Conscript *Cost Ratio: 200,000 per $1 *Equipment: x1 multiplier *Number Constructed: 740,000,000 *Total Cost: $3,700 Advanced Combat Drone *Soldier Type: Regular *Cost Ratio: 100,000 per $1 *Equipment: x2 multiplier *Number Constructed: 65,000,000 *Total Cost: $1,300 Heavy Battle Drone *Soldier Type: Elite *Cost Ratio: 50,000 per $1 *Equipment: x3 multiplier *Number Constructed: 10,000,000 *Total Cost: $600 Category:National Information